|
I highly recommend watching these. - The films are made up of actual footage which is rarely seen today.
"Pearl Harbor" This is a 2 minute assortment of clips from newsreels covering Pearl as well as Europe and Japan. They were used to show the American public views of the War. No words are needed for this film.
"December 7th," Director: John Ford. The Authentic footage is mixed with reenactments to
show the tragic events at Pearl Harbor. The film also pays tribute to the oldiers killed with some profiled by the surviving family members. American forces will rise from destruction stronger than before as part of the film covers a ship recovery by the Navy. (32 min)
"The Battle of Midway," Director: John Ford who personally filmed the actual footage with a hand-held 16mm camera. Henry Fonda provides the
dramatic narration. (18 min)
"Report from the Aleutians," Director: John Huston follows the daily
life of American soldiers serving in the Aleutian Islands, . The cold and barren Alaska Aleutian Islands held military bases of immense
strategic value in the wartime operations, attack planning, bombing raids and life at Adak Island after the Battle of Dutch Harbor. A first-person perspective of an actual American bombing run against the Japanese is also given.(43 min)
| Victory at Sea, Episode 2: The Pacific Boils Over
Episode 6: Guadalcanal Two parts of a 1953 television series which aired acutal footage of WWII. Each episode was composed of archival footage originally accumulated by the U.S., British, Japanese or German Navy. The episodes represent one of the most ambitious documentary undertakings of early network television. (26 min, each)
"The Fighting Lady," Director: William Wyler This WWII portrait of
life on an aircraft carrier shows the soldiers' day, a journey through the Panama
Canal, a strike on the Marcus
Islands, a surprise night raid by
Japanese fighters and the engagement of the Imperial Japanese Battle Fleet at the "Marianas Turkey Shoot". American pilots
downed almost 400 Japanese Zeros with 22 US losses. Impressive US cockpit footage. (1 hr)
"The Memphis Belle" Director: William Wyler follows the crew
of the Memphis Belle. United States Air Force's 324th Squadron, 91st Heavy Bomber Unit.
To start the Belle's crew had successfully completed 24
missions deep into Nazi territory. Cameras accompany the Belle on its 25th mission whereby upon completion the crew will qualify for release from active duty. The film provides a first-person
perspective of a bombing raid, showing how it feels to be
threatened by "flak [enemy fire] so thick you can get out and walk on
it." The film also salutes those less fortunate than the crew of the
Memphis Belle.
(39 min)
|